Auston Kim vaults into top 10 to earn 2024 LPGA card after winning 2023 Epson Tour Championship.
Auston Kim needed some fireworks at the Epson Tour Championship to secure an LPGA card for 2024. She shot 7-under 29 on the front nine to get the sparks flying, and then made birdie on the final hole to win by two and vault into the top 10 on the money list.
“We talked all year about if we do the right things, if I create good habits, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” said Kim, who entered the week No. 15 on the money list and ended it No. 3.
When the Tour Championship kicked off Thursday, three players had already clinched their LPGA cards for 2024: Gabriela Ruffels, Natasha Andrea Oon and Jiwon Jeon.
When the dust settled in Daytona Beach, Florida, eight of the 10 players who entered the week in the top 10 maintained their spots. Becca Huffer (No. 9) and Jenny Bae (No. 10) were the two who dropped out.
Huffer ultimately finished 11th on the money list, with $1,700 less than Kristen Gillman. The 33-year-old Huffer tied for 12th at the Tour Championship and closed with a 65.
A total of nine players broke the $100,000 mark in season earnings, five more than any other year in the developmental tour’s history.
Find out more about the card winners for the 2023 Epson Tour season:
Brooke Henderson is fifth in the Rolex Rankings but suffered a round-robin loss at the LPGA Bank of Hope Match Play.
Brooke Henderson, currently fifth in the Rolex Rankings, lost to 194th-ranked Jenny Coleman on the first day of the LPGA Bank of Hope Match Play on Wednesday.
Henderson isn’t out of the event; the first three days use a round-robin format, with knockout rounds starting on Saturday.
Henderson took a quick 3 up lead with birdies on the first three holes but it was all square after Coleman birdied Nos. 5, 10 and 11. They traded birdies on 13 and 14 and it was a birdie on the par-5 16th by Coleman that proved to be the difference maker.
In other matches, top-ranked Jin Young Ko beat Natalie Gulbis 4 and 2, Danielle Kang knocked out Albane Valenzuela 7 and 6 and Patty Tavatanakit beat Sarah Kemp, 1 up.
Also Wednesday, Carlota Ciganda lost her match to Sarah Schmelzel due to a slow-play penalty that resulted in loss of the 18th hole.
The women’s tour hasn’t had a match-play event on its schedule since 2017 when Lorena Ochoa hosted a tournament in Mexico City that wasn’t even televised. This week, the famed Shadow Creek course is host. The Tom Fazio design hosted The Match: Tiger vs. Phil in 2018 and the PGA Tour’s CJ CUP last October.
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols contributed to this article.
Jenny Coleman enjoyed a career week with her identical twin and coach, Kristin, by her side at the LPGA Drive on Championship.
OCALA, Florida – On Wednesday at the LPGA Drive On Championship, Jenny Coleman was hitting it “meh.” That’s how her identical twin sister Kristin described it at least. The Coleman twins share everything – clothes, car, profession. The touring pros also share swing tips as they double as each other’s swing coach.
“Just worry about (taking it) straight back, stronger wrist as opposed to cupped,” Kristin told her, “and just tempo. Get back to your tempo, get back to your groove.”
Jenny, 28, found her groove alright, finishing third at the Drive On, smashing her previous best showing of T-26 and significantly boosting her career earnings with a $100,992 payday. (Jenny’s previous career earnings totaled $19,668.)
“It helps boost my confidence and know I have the game to be out here and I deserve to be out here,” said Jenny, who drained a 54-foot birdie bomb on the 71st hole to finish 8 under for the tournament, seven shots behind winner Austin Ernst.
The week gave Kristin, who walked outside the ropes, a confidence boost too.
“She’s doing it,” said Kristin, “I can definitely do it too.”
Jenny Coleman plays her shot from the third tee during the final round of the LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala Golf Club on March 07, 2021 in Ocala, Florida. (Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The Coleman sisters learned the game from their father, Colin, around age 4. Dad would take a lesson and bring back what he learned to the girls. They were recruited separately but followed each other to Colorado. Jenny held or shared 28 school records when she left Boulder.
The Colemans, who hail from Rolling Hills Estates outside Los Angeles, joined the Symetra Tour together in 2015. As pros, they typically get one lesson per year in the offseason. And it’s usually a different pro each time, chosen off a list of top professionals in the area or word-of-mouth recommendations. This year they went to Jamie Puterbaugh at Aviara Golf Academy.
Jenny is the more technical player and said that a lot of people think they swing fairly similar because their setup and finish looks so close.
“She has a more flattening transition,” explain Jenny, “and mine is fairly more one-planed.”
Jenny finished third on the Symetra Tour money list in 2019 to earn her LPGA card. The sisters send each other swing videos when they’re apart. Last year, Kristin, who is one minute older, caddied for Jenny on the LPGA several times when the Symetra had time off.
Kristin said they’re basically carbon copies of each other, with similar tastes and personalities. For years the only way some Symetra Tour players could tell them apart was to look at their shoes. But now both wear the same brand. Even players who’ve known them since junior golf have trouble telling them apart.
“I’m an inch taller and I part my hair on the opposite side,” said Kristin, “but wearing a hat that doesn’t quite help anybody out.”
It is, however, easy tell which ball belongs to which sister. Jenny uses the even-numbered golf balls; Kristin takes the odds.
“We could definitely take pieces of our swings and we would have a perfect swing,” said Jenny. “Or like she would drive, I would do the approaches, and then she would have the up-and-downs. And then putting 50/50. We would be killer like scramble team.”
